Patent Attorneys: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Fish & Richardson led the Patent Attorneys benchmark in September 2026 with valid recommendation coverage of 43.4%, down from 58.5% in July 2026. The gap to the next closest brand, Finnegan at 22.4%, was 21.0 percentage points. Finnegan's month-over-month move was significant, falling to 22.4% in September 2026 from 39.0% in August 2026 — beyond normal month-to-month variation. Fish & Richardson also declined again, to 43.4% in September 2026 from 58.4% in August 2026, extending a two-month downward streak, though this month's incremental change was within normal variation on its own.

Across the full July-to-September series, both leaders declined in each of the two months since July 2026. Finnegan fell 20.1 points from 42.5% in July 2026 to 22.4% in September 2026, while Fish & Richardson fell 15.1 points from 58.5% in July 2026 to 43.4% in September 2026. The benchmark began with 427 prompt-surface observations in July 2026, 524 in August 2026, and 575 in September 2026, producing 94, 77, and 76 qualified observations respectively after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. In September 2026, all six families were represented, adding Perplexity to the five families observed in July 2026.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Patent Attorneys

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how observations were qualified.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See the AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

Among the brands with coverage in September 2026, valid recommendation counts ranged from 2 to 33 across the 76 qualified observations, with Fish & Richardson holding 33 and Finnegan 17. Smaller counts were observed for Kilpatrick Townsend at 8, Sterne Kessler at 5, and Harrity & Harrity at 2.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations with at least one valid recommendation, the primary metric.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears among the top three recommendations.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the number one recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive minus negative mentions divided by total mentions, scored from 0 to 1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Decline: Finnegan

Finnegan was the largest decliner, with valid recommendation coverage falling 20.1 points from 42.5% in July 2026 to 22.4% in September 2026. The brand declined in each of the two months since July 2026, including a 16.6 point drop from 39.0% in August 2026. Presence rate fell 21.7 points from 58.5% in July 2026 to 36.8% in September 2026, and top-three rate fell 20.7 points from 40.4% to 19.7% over the same period.

Largest Decline: Fish & Richardson

Fish & Richardson fell 15.1 points from 58.5% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 43.4% in September 2026. Its rank-one rate fell 19.9 points from 38.3% to 18.4%, the steepest erosion in first-choice positioning among all tracked brands. Presence rate declined 18.0 points from 85.1% in July 2026 to 67.1% in September 2026.

Category Leader: Fish & Richardson

Fish & Richardson remained the category leader at 43.4% valid recommendation coverage despite the decline. Its top-three rate of 36.8% and rank-one rate of 18.4% both led the category in September 2026. Net sentiment held at 0.9.

Wolf Greenfield posted the largest rank-one rate gain among the stable brands this period, rising 6.8 points from 1.1% in July 2026 to 7.9% in September 2026. Sterne Kessler showed a small gain, up 1.4 points from 5.2% in August 2026 to 6.6% in September 2026, its highest coverage in the series.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Fish & Richardson retained the highest top-three and rank-one rates among leading brands in September 2026, despite declines in both. Wolf Greenfield converted the largest share of its presence into first-position recommendations among the leading cluster.

Similar total coverage can still hide very different first-position rates. Finnegan and Knobbe Martens both had rank-one rates of 4.0% in September 2026, while Wolf Greenfield converted a far larger share of its presence into the top recommendation slot.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both July and September 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery only and cannot answer pricing, value, or head-to-head comparison questions.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment; it is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone. The two-month declines for both leading brands should not yet be treated as an established trend. It records what AI and search surfaces recommend when asked about patent attorney firms, based on the qualified observation set described above.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how AI and search surfaces present brands across canonical surface families, measuring presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment for tracked companies in each vertical. Research links:

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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